1843.] and the Abyssinian Church. 627 



bounty of the community, and many never enter the huts of the 

 monastery, but with their wives reside at ease in their own homes, 

 having joined the order for the mere sake of defrauding their creditors ; 

 for however deeply involved, the donning of the head dress, and the 

 monastic habit clears off all former scores, with the ease and rapidity of 

 the most indulgent court of insolvency. 



5 th. The skin of the (algeazine ?) is adopted as a dress by all who 

 cover under the garb of humiliation a deep-rooted pride of their insti- 

 tution, and together with the unwashed person is meant to commemorate 

 the legend of their great founder, Istathios, who boasted of no ablution 

 during a long term of existence, and who miraculously crossed the 

 river Jordan, floating secure upon his greasy skin. The prophet 

 Samuel is also sometimes referred to, as affording another example 

 of the advantages of the covering of hide, and the story relates, how 

 he sailed in company with his disciples for seven days' journey on 

 the surface of a great sea, borne in safety upon the leathern robes 

 which formed the only mortal attire in those ancient days. 



6th. Although monasteries are rife over the face of the country, 

 yet the mountain Azzulo, situated near the river Hawash, is celebrated 

 as the most sacred seat of monkery. The mountain continually 

 emits dark smske, and its only inhabitants are Christian fathers, who 

 despising the world and its vanities retire thither, unmolested by Galla 

 or Mahommedan, to spend their days in blissful peace and retire- 

 ment, universally looked upon and feared as sorcerers ; they are said to 

 live on the most social terms with the lions and wild goats which abound 

 upon the hill. The reception of youth as novices is by no means 

 sanctioned by the monopolizing elders, to whom the tale ^assigns an 

 exclusive subsistence upon the fruits and herbs and roots, which toge- 

 ther with a pair of wings, are freely furnished them from heaven ; but 

 none of those who have as yet returned from the pilgrimage are 

 stated to have brought back their feathered appendages, and the lank 

 figure and dim eye betoken rather the toil of the weary wayfarer than 

 the high enjoyment of Elysian feasts. 



7th. The small encircling cord of silk round the neck, called the 

 " Matab," is the emblem of the debased Christianity which exists 

 throughout the land, the color is deep blue in reference to the smiling 

 sky of heaven, and the turban of the priest and the monk is designed 



